Keepin g Deer out of our Gardens

[MariannePersia]

My garden is surrounded by the woods and we are on a deer natural pathway so regardless what I have done, the deer continue to eat my Hosta, Phlox, Lilies (just before they are ready to bloom), they do not eat foxglove, delpheniums and never eat weeds. They come in the garden in the summer, find a shady place to rest in, and let their fawn go to the buffet.

I have tried Plant Skyd (animal blood) in a spray, Coyote Urine which I purchased from the Fur Harvesters in town, for this I put the urine on a cloth and hung it from trees, it smells terrible and did not seem to work ,
I tried Cayenne pepper and finally Irish Spring Soap which I shaved and put on the ground around the Hosta, hung from trees on fishing line
and it seemed to work. I bought a air horn and tried to scare them away
Next thing is a gun

I want to put a vegetable garden this spring and want to see my Lillies bloom and my drifts of phlox which I have not seen for 2 years, the deer only eat the blooms.

I heard about Bobbex on a garden show and garlic

Has anyone tried Bobbex it supposedly has smells deer do not like, does not wash off, and I am hoping it really works, all the things I have previously tried wer supposedly going to work also

Help I love the deer just don`t want them to eat my plants, we have 6 acres so fencing is out of the question, I plan on putting a fence around my vegetable garden, but not around 6 acres[/b]

[bullthistle]

If I ever build my retirement home I'll have a similar problem but I will sic my cat on them. See how they like being dragged around. With your vegey garden best build a tall fence, more then 4 feet, and string soap and empty pie tins around the fence. Those $.59 pies that WalMart sells should be good enough and hope the wind blows when they come in the yard. Remember those hand windmills as a child? Motion and noise might keep them at bay. There were deer trails when I went to my lot.

[Kisal]

We have many, many past discussions of methods to keep deer out of the garden. I recommend that you type the word deer or deer control into the Search the Forum function. The link is on the tool bar right beside "Log In".

Here are a couple to get you started:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=240332#240332

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=239464#239464

[GardenGnome]

Lol I just put some t bars in the ground. Did 2 fences 3 feet apart so its wide next I'm going to zigzag line across it and tie acouple ribbons on the line. And I have some solar lights I put on the fence so the deer can see it at night. They say deer can jump high but won't jump something wide. I went cheap and don't want a real fence up. If I'm done with the spot I pull the 5 bars and trash the line. Only cost 10 dollars or less. Well I had
the tbars given to me but I'm sure a babmo stick or many other items would work. I've heard the soap thing also ill put some at the front of my yard and see if it makes them turn around. I was peeing and using human hair but the rain washed it away. The deer ate my pumpkins last year so I'm hoping they won't try this year. Some say if you plants a patch for the deer to fill up on where there path is before they get to your flowers might work.

[MariannePersia]

Hi so your trying this now right you have not seen if it works

Please post and let me know, what zone are you in, we have two feet of snow on the ground, I will not plant until May.

but until then I will plan, and browse seed catelogues.

I need look at deer fencing and am going to try Boobex

I would not consider growing a veggie garden without a fence and the deer fence seems very transparent[/url]

[rainbowgardener]

Kisal and Marianne-- did you get your iris photo from some public place? It looks like you have the identical one. It is beautiful....

[Kisal]

Yes, rainbow. I'm going to change mine. It's confusing for two people to have the same avatar. I have a pretty pic of one of my holiday cacti I plan to use.

[treehopper]

I posted the other day I have had good success with the scarecrow motion sensing sprinkler, but you have to stay on top of the battery condition-it seems the deer test it every day (night) and the first failure they take advantage...oh, and it is aggrivating having to turn the sprinkler off and then on every visit to the garden. I like the gun idea.

[GardenGnome]

If I could take down a deer the guys around me would help me hide the meat lol.
I bought a sprayer from lowes 8 bucks and some lavender soap from the dollar tree 2 bucks and I am going to put them in a trash can full of water. And then spray my plants with the soap water I've heard deer don't like lav or rosemary. I did this all cheap to keep the deer out I would say you could do it for under 50 bucks. My ways ill update and to add a note its the worst when they mate that's when they will eat anything best best is wide high fences 10 foot poles above ground and some string idk.

[joew01]

I have tried many products over the years. Short of using only deer resistant plants or a deer fence I have had great success with "Liquid Fence-Deer & Rabbit Repellent" from Liquid Fence Co., Inc., Bradheadsville, PA.....make sure it is in "concentrate"

For the winter months on broad leafed evergreens I've had good success with "Deer Free Shrub Selector" by Garden Girls Repellents LLC this one also doubles as an anti-desiccant

good luck